He paces in front of the long window, growing more agitated the closer we come to him. “He’s freaking out,” I say.
“Define ‘freaking out,’” says Zed.
“He knows we’re coming. I can’t be sure, but someone might be with him.”
Maybell’s cool fingers come to rest on my forearm. “Calm him. Assure him we are here to help.” She turns to Zed, who has taken on a smile. “We don’t know that it is Olivia.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” I hiss, bringing her attention back to me. “I’ve never even met this guy!”
Her voice comes out soft, as if she is cooing a small child. “Let your intuition guide you. You need to trust your instincts.”
My heart won’t stop racing no matter how many calming breaths I take. Sweat drips down my forehead and into my eyes. I wipe my brow and curl myself into a ball to keep the pressure at bay.
Maybell bends beside me. Her hand finds mine and pulls it out in front of her. Using broad strokes, her fingers circle the inside of my wrist. “You mustn’t let his emotions overwhelm you. Back away from him. Move to his periphery.”
With every second that passes, my chest tightens. My breath is so rapid my head is swimming. “How!”
“Focus on my voice, my touch. You are in control. You guide him. Slip away slowly. Allow him to feel your retreat.”
As soon as the words register, my mind clears enough for me to distinguish his emotions from my own. He calms down slightly, but is still wary.
I can’t really blame the guy. If this were me dreaming I would probably be thinking I was having a nightmare. Is this how the Erobos affect people? The nightmare I experienced in Charlotte’s dream was more than a feeling. It was an actual presence. I can’t let my mind dwell on the Erobos.
One thing is for certain. I don’t want to be Nabeel’s nightmare.
With tiny movements, I approach him until he registers my presence again. I stay far enough away that, hopefully, he won’t be threatened.
His heartbeat flutters. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I speak to him. “Nabeel, we’re here to help you. I need to tell you something very important. I want you to be able to work on your satellites. To do that you need to convince Mr. Motwali that your plan is the best.”
His interest spikes, so I inch in closer. “Please, let us come up to your apartment so we can talk.”
He doesn’t respond right away, but it doesn’t take him long to lower the barrier that has kept me from pinpointing his location. His soft voice in my mind startles me. “You may come up. Only you.”
I glance at Zed. “He wants me to go alone.”
Maybell shakes her head, her eyes widening and her jaw slackening. Worry radiates from her, but Zed stands with his legs wide apart, stroking his beard. He doesn’t say a word. He just lowers his head in a nod.
I nod back before I take off, adrenaline pumping through me. Amped up as I am, I bypass the elevators and take the stairs. My feet fly up each step until I come to his floor and race down the hall. At the end of the hall, a shabby green door shows layers of red and yellow paint between the cracks in the finish.
My fingers slide around the metal and twist. Nabeel waits for me on the other side.
“Come in,” he says, grasping my wrist and pulling me through the doorway.
Heat engulfs me and I gasp. Stagnant air tightens my throat. This is all wrong. Something isn’t right here. I whirl around, expecting to see big brown eyes watching me.
The eyes are brown, but the keeper of those eyes sneers at me. The man’s body grows and fills in, his features morphing into the last man I want to see. Well, maybe not the last, but close.
“Ian?” I choke out, covering my nose and my mouth to keep the haze out of my lungs.
Behind him, a body is sprawled out on the floor. Nabeel, no doubt. The real one.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at Seth’s volatile brother.
He ignores my question, moving toward Nabeel.
I rush forward. “Leave him alone,” I tell Ian, intending on booting him in the head if he does anything suspicious.
He scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Help me. We don’t have much time.”
“I don’t trust you,” I tell him.
A dark grunt rushes out of him. “Shut up and secure the room.”
“What?” I cross my arms, trying to cover my choking with a smirk. “You mean you’re not going to kill me?”
He smirks back. “Later. Right now, we have to help Nabeel.”
I press my lips together, taking in his long frame and violent eyes. “Not really seeming like the good guy to me. How do I know you didn’t set this up?”
Ian straightens and takes a step toward me. “Shut up and secure the room!”
Stiffening, I give him the stink eye. “Why don’t you shut up and secure the room; I’ll see to Nabeel.”
He doesn’t say a word, but he watches me as he backs away. That’s right, keep going. I’m tempted to gloat, but I’m too worried about the man at my feet.
I kneel beside him, and, as absurd as it is, I feel for a pulse in his neck. “Can you get rid of this smog, or whatever the hell this stuff is?”
“I’m working on it,” says Ian, casing the room.
I cup Nabeel’s cheeks and tilt his head back and forth. “Nabeel?” I say. When he won’t rouse, I slap his cheeks lightly. “Nabeel, you need to wake up.” The absurdity of my comment isn’t lost on me. We’re in his dream, after all. “Nabeel,” I say in a harder tone.
His eyes flutter and he groans, but he doesn’t wake up. A ginormous cockroach flits across the floor near the top of his head. Vomit rises up my throat. Who the hell dreams about cockroaches?
Before he can pass out again, I lift him to a sitting position. He’s not much bigger than I am and he’s way skinnier, anorexic thin. I sure hope he’s not this bad off in real life.
The reason I’m here hits me again. With my mind finally focused on my task, I move to help him to his feet.
Finally, his eyes open and settle on me. “Who are you?” he asks, wariness written all over him.
“Amelia. I’m here to help you.”
Nabeel looks over at Ian, still skeptical. “What about him?”
I shrug. “No idea. Look. This is a dream, but I need you to remember a few things when you wake up. It’s important that you listen to me.” He nods. “You need to go see Mr. Motwali. Your plan is too out there for him, so you need to tone it down. Tell him you’d like to enhance wind turbine output.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” he says, indignant. “My life’s work has been in solar energy.”
“It doesn’t matter. You have to get him on your side. Once he knows you can work and have new innovations, your solar idea will be easier to sell. Use an in-road of some kind to work over to solar. The most important thing for you to do is talk to him about baseball.”
He blinks his big eyes at me a few times. Man, I’d kill for those lashes. His voice holds a level of amusement amidst clear confusion. “But I don’t know a thing about baseball.”
“You don’t need to. All you need to do is notice his game ball and ask him what it is. He keeps it on his desk, so it should be pretty obvious. He also has a picture of Babe Ruth on his wall. Ask him who he is. Chat him up. Do whatever you have to do to make him laugh.”
He cocks his head. “How will that help me secure the grant? I can no longer sustain myself. I eat one meal a day. If he doesn’t choose me, I will lose everything I have. All of my work, my research, will be for naught.” He pales to the point that he’s nearly see through.
I clasp his arm. “Don’t think about that. Convince him you’re the best man for the job. Show him how versatile you are. The Japanese will approve his recommendation. If he’s behind you, you’re golden.”
“How will I ever remember all of this?” he asks.
Ian walks over to us, irritation eating up his features. “Close the deal, Chit. We n
eed to leave.”
The minute we’re out of here, I’m going to find a way to cause Ian pain. “What’s going on?”
“In case you didn’t notice, we’re surrounded by Erobos.”
A chill slips over me. I focus on Nabeel. “You need to wake up now. Remember what I told you.”
Nabeel looks from me to Ian and back again. “How do I wake myself up?”
Ian huffs. “We don’t have time for this.” He walks over to Nabeel, picks him up, and hurls him through the window. Glass shatters and scatters everywhere, following Nabeel to the pavement below.
My scream catches in my throat as Ian stalks toward me, his intentions clear on his face. I throw out my hands to stop him. He said he’d kill me later, but I didn’t think he would attempt it this soon. And I sure as heck didn’t think he’d kill our target in the process.
Even though I’m fast, I’m not fast enough. Ian’s strong arms band around me, but instead of tossing me like he did Nabeel, he jumps out the window with me in his arms. What is it with these guys and falling?
Ian twists me around, midair, so I’m pressed to him, front to front, staring over his shoulder at the gaping hole we just came from. Daegan stares back at me, pure hate in his light eyes. I glance at Ian, not quite sure how to react now that I know he was telling the truth. Do I know he hasn’t been lying? Is this some sort of trick?
“What? No brilliant retort you want to share?”
“Thanks,” I say. “That was close.”
“Hold on to me,” he says. “This is going to be rough.”
“What are you talking abou—”
The world around me twists, collapsing in on itself like an accordion. Gigantic buildings deflate as if the air is being let out of them. Ian pulls me tighter against him. The pavement rushes toward us. I cringe the moment before we hit. I’m going to die. I’ve been here before though, and I didn’t die. Besides, the real me is tucked away in Seth’s library.
Ian’s feet bang against the pavement and we spring forward toward the sparkling windows of the skyscraper in front of us. Instead of using the gleaming surface as a portal, he twists at the last second and screeches to a stop.
Maybell crashes around the corner, followed by Zed.
“Where’s Nabeel?” I ask, searching for him amidst the rubble.
Ian places me on my feet. “No time.”
“Portal?” asks Maybell.
Calm as ever, Zed lifts his brows. “Follow me.”
“What about Olivia?”
“If she’s here, she will find a way out.”
He doesn’t even run, but he’s moving so fast it’s an impossibility. Still, he’s doing it. I rush forward, nearly keeping up, but not quite.
Maybell turns around to come after me. Ian lifts his hand and she shrugs before he even speaks. “I’ll get her.”
She picks up her pace and catches up to Zed. Since it’s Ian, I don’t want him near me again, so I find a way to move faster. He laughs when I pass him, which makes me want to blow past him completely.
Giving it every bit of effort I have, I finally catch up to Maybell. Zed still manages to look casual, but he’s got a slight tension in his shoulders.
He glances at us. “Hurry. We are nearly out of time.”
Panic courses through me, but the oddest thing happens. Seth said I’d be able to feel the portal and I do. There’s an electric hum in the air that propels me forward. Pretty soon, I’m in front of all of them, leading. I grin when I reach the light post and curl my fingers around it.
I only have a second to take in the scene behind me. Shivers slice over me as the portal pulls me in. Erobos by the thousands race after us, or maybe it’s the blond girl hurtling forward like a rocket, which I’m guessing is Olivia. Where she came from is anyone’s guess. Daegan’s in the lead of his massive army. His icy gaze locks with mine, and I’m trapped for a moment. Then the world disintegrates as the team scrambles to make it on time.
As usual, the desolate world has not changed. Having no desire to delay my departure from this hellish place, I take to the sky once again. This time I choose the subtler form of a sparrow. With any luck, the dreamer will not notice me.
My wings thrust me into the sky as my heart beats a staccato rhythm. First, I scan the nearby area. The man still sits, dangling his legs over the smoldering pit of lava below him. His gaze is fixed, but his mouth moves slightly. From this height, I cannot distinguish his words and he is not speaking out loud.
I make a quick perimeter sweep, but as usual, he is completely alone. If he has noticed me, he makes no move to acknowledge my presence. I circle again, trying to get closer without disturbing him.
For a brief moment, I consider contacting him, yet the oddity of this world leaves me bereft of a real desire to know more about this man. Amelia is right. I have no reason to destroy the world, yet each moment I spend here is a moment too long. I need to, at the very least, remove the portal. Until I figure out what is going on, bringing my team here is not wise. Unfortunately, I need Ian or Zed for a true separation, to blow both sides of a portal. Even in the Dreamscape, there are worlds we do not traverse.
I haven’t heard from my brother Peter in too many years to count. As far as I know, he has stayed in contact with Zed, but he is still angry with me for getting myself locked up.
He warned me about Rhea, but I did not listen when he told me of her interaction with Deagan. What would he think of Amelia? I have not allowed myself a companion for more than five thousand years. Would that be long enough punishment in his eyes?
The Erobos have almost accomplished their task too many times. Each of my remaining brothers and I have nearly succumbed to temptation, yet the thing they used to trap me is the very thing that keeps me safe from their ever-growing influence.
Once in my realm, I can shed the evil that shadows me in the Dreamscape. Their presence has become more prominent over the last few years. It spreads from world to world like a virus. Where once was sweet innocence, exists underworlds that would make a hardened criminal cringe. They start at the periphery and circle until they have pinned a target into a narrow cocoon of darkness. Once they have turned a mind, it is hard to get that person back. Finding the dreamer’s true self in such a bog of filth can take years, even decades. Some pass from the mortal realm before we can ever recover them. Others are not worth recovering. It is a shame, but a truth to acknowledge.
This dreamer’s focus unnerves me. How I never noticed his unwavering nature when here before is beyond me, especially when Amelia detected it immediately.
When I circle again, the man looks straight at me. What I see sends me reeling inside. A Sibylline in my worlds? Without my knowledge? How is this possible?
His eyes no longer contain an ounce of color. Pure black orbs pierce straight to my core.
I will not spend another second here. A sharp gust of wind throws me off-balance, and I plummet toward the ground, only recovering enough to soften my landing. I morph immediately, rolling to my side before I jump to my feet.
The area remains void of life, except for the man atop the mountain’s crest.
Trepidation floods into me, and I hasten for the portal. This world should be closed as soon as possible. I should have brought supplies with me. Once again I am reminded of how lax I have grown in my duties.
My spine stiffens straight. No more. Whatever this man has planned does not matter. He will not succeed. He shall be cut off from all Oneiroi presence. If darkness is what he desires, he shall have it.
Something sinister is happening here. Something designed for destruction.
Without hesitation I race for the portal and am through to the next world. The other portals blur together as I hurry to my team. Now, more than ever before, I need them on this.
Once inside my realm, I relax a fraction, but I detest the time it takes the elevator to arrive on the top floor. A high-pitched ding tracks my upward progress, and by the time I reach the top floor I am ready to smash th
e bell above the dial. One of these days, I shall remodel all of my office, but I’ve let nostalgia hamper my judgment.
When the doors finally open, I am greeted by raucous laughter. Not one person turns to greet me. They are all huddled around two figures in the center of the giant room. Thick mahogany desks have been pushed to the perimeter while a sea of people surrounds the couple: Amelia and Ian.
A growl races up my throat before I can stop it.
No one notices, or they are pretending not to notice, which inches my anger near boiling.
No sound exists in the room, save Amelia’s lovely voice.
“Then he jumped out the window, carrying me. Daegan sure looked pissed.”
Ian laughs. “It didn’t help that you flipped him off on the way down. I’m beginning to think you had a questionable upbringing.”
“Look who’s talking, Mr. Never-Says-Anything-Helpful.” She cocks her head and quirks a brow. “You could have told me the Erobos were everywhere instead of trying to run the show.”
“You wouldn’t have listened if I had. You don’t trust me.”
“Damned right!”
I step in between the two, pushing Ian toward Maybell in the process. I don’t care who is in the room. Amelia is safe, and I make no pretense as I pull her into my arms.
She glances up at me, eyes alive with laughter. “Couldn’t wait to see me, huh?”
I bend near her ear, inhaling her sultry scent. “If I could strap you to my side, I would.”
Her chest rumbles with her laugh. She whispers, “Control freak.” Her smile broadens until our gazes touch. She takes a step back, scanning my face, and clasps my arm. “What’s wrong?”
Since this concerns our whole team, I get right to it. “I’m afraid we have a problem.”
For the first time I notice Zed hovering near the windows, as usual. Olivia is by his side, her hand firmly secured in his. She is yet to be interrogated, but I do not sense any darkness within her. As I understand it, she barely escaped the crumbling world with the others. Normally when a dreamer awakes, his world is left intact; however, when they are startled awake from a death in a dream, it shatters the world. I am grateful to have my team here safe, and we have Amelia and Ian to thank for it.